You get a person's permission to be put on your mailing list by offering a 'freebie' (ethical bride or lead magnet) in exchange for the email address.

Once these email addresses are acquired, you send information your subscribers need or want – information you initially told them you’d provide. This information is usually done through a newsletter or basic email on a scheduled basis.

The idea is to develop a relationship with your subscribers. Along with sending needed information, you can also send promotions for your books, other products, or services. This is the real purpose of email marketing.

But, do you need an email marketing service to obtain subscriber emails, organize them into useful data, and send out emails?

Yes, you do.

Email marketing is big business. It’s considered one of the top marketing tools. And, there are rules and regulations.

So, if you’re just starting out on your book marketing journey, and your budget is limited, you should consider joining one of the free emails marketing services, like MailChimp.

These free services offer great features, such as:

- An opt-in box code to input on your website.
- The organization of your subscriber list.
- The ability to create multiple campaigns. This means you can create different groups of subscribers and send them specific emails targeting different niches. It’s a great tool.
- Email automation.
- Email address credibility.
- Professional newsletter templates.
- The ability to preschedule emails.
- Easy use.
- Compliance with national and international rules for sending commercial emails.
- Analytics

Just be aware that once you reach a certain number of emails sent per month or subscribers, the service will require you to pay a monthly fee. But, if your list is growing, you won’t mind the expense. It’s a worthwhile investment in your business.

If you’re on the fence about the need for an email marketing service, here are two questions to ask yourself:

1. Will this outside service increase my business?

The answer here is, most likely YES.

The email list is considered ‘golden’ because of the potential for sales. People buy from those they trust – the relationship you create with your subscribers leads to trust.

But, while the service will help by providing opt-in box code, automatic mailings, autoresponders, analytics, and other goodies, your business will only increase if you actually work at it.

You need to provide something your reader needs. It's the book marketing strategies you use and the value you provide that will entice your reader to click on that subscribe button and open your emails..

2. Can I start out doing my own email campaigns?

The answer is, it’s not advisable. While you can create a spreadsheet and keep track of a few email addresses, the rest can be problematic.

Keep in mind there are rules to using someone’s email address for marketing. The FTC, in their CAN-SPAM Act, established rules and requirements for commercial email. If you’re in violation their guidelines, there could be tough penalties.

Since you can take advantage of free email marketing services, there’s no reason not to start your business out on the right foot.

5 comments:

Your post couldn't have come at a better time for me as I begin my marketing campaign for my soon-to-be published book. Thank you, Karen, for such a helpful post. It's great advice and I'm sure will serve me well.

I remember the days (early 2000s) when our only choice for mass marketing was to buy a mailing list and or build our own complete with addresses! How lovely (and frugal!) to have e-mail. And I prefer the even more frugal way to doing it--using a Word program for the message, cut and paste into whatever e-mail we use, and send blind copies to our own lists. It's one of the most effective kinds of marketing (and networking) we can do!Carolyn Howard-JohnsonAuthor the multi award-winning The Frugal Book Promoter